Crowd-pleasing Manicotti

THE RECIPE DOCTOR

Q: I need to know how to lighten this manicotti. I know it sounds quite fattening. It's a crowd pleaser, and there's no way to get out of eating just one.

A: I'm always looking for meatless dinner entrees because I like to serve non-meat dinners a few times a week. This recipe fits the bill with a nice ricotta cheese filling topped with a mushroom white sauce. If the white sauce is a bit too much work for you, just substitute 3 cups of bottled marinara sauce. When I tested the light version of this recipe, I topped half of the manicotti with some of the mushroom white sauce and half with some bottled marinara so everyone had two choices (my teen girls ate the marinara-topped manicotti while my husband had the white sauce option). I, of course, had to sample both so I could tell you with confidence that both toppings work very well.

We cut the fat in half and the calories by 100 calories a serving by making the mushroom white sauce with 1-1/2 tablespoons of olive oil and 3 cups of fat-free half and half (or low-fat milk) instead of half a stick of butter, some half and half cream and some whole milk. I also cut the Parmesan cheese in half because 1-1/2 cups seemed like overkill for the sauce.

The first change I made to the filling was the addition of chopped spinach. This seemed like a colorful way to punch up the fiber and nutrient. The spinach looked and tasted like it belonged in there. The spinach/cheese filling was made with part-skim ricotta and mozzarella instead of whole milk varieties and 1 egg plus 1/2-cup egg substitute was added instead of 3 eggs.

CREAMY SPINACH MANICOTTI

If you want to skip the white sauce, just top the manicotti with 3 cups of bottled marinara sauce before baking.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with canola cooking spray. Bring a large saucepan of water, about 4 inches deep to boil. Add canola oil and lasagna sheets and cook, according to the directions on the package, until just tender. Drain well and rinse in cold water. Lay lasagna sheets out on jellyroll pan to cool.

To make white sauce: Heat olive oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and mushroom slices and saute until mushrooms are lightly browned. Meanwhile, combine 1/4 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of the fat-free half and half in a 4-cup measure to make a thin paste. Then stir in the remaining fat-free half and half.

When mushrooms are lightly browned, stir in the flour/half and half mixture and the shredded Parmesan and stir until mixture comes to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook and stir until nicely thickened (a few minutes). Remove from heat, add pepper to taste, and set aside.

To make filling: Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir to blend well.

Depending on how large your lasagna sheet is (you may need to cut them into two pieces each), lay your pasta sheet about 5 inches wide by 5 inches tall on a plate. Add 1/3 cup of the filling and shape the filling along one of the edges. Roll up like an enchilada and place in prepared baking dish.

Repeat with remaining pasta sheets and filling. Cover the tops with the mushroom white sauce and bake until manicotti is hot throughout and sauce is bubbling, about 20 to 25 minutes. Serve hot.